Death
Death is the main protagonist of Darksiders II. His main weapon is The Harvester, which War can acquire during Darksiders. However, during the course of the game he does not wield it in its inherent, iconic form. Instead, it takes the shape of 2 smaller dual-scythes, which in turn can transform during combos, according to Death's needs. It has been mentioned that Death did have something to do with the death of his people, the Nephilim , after the destructive war that brought about their near-extinction. Biography 'Origin' Death's past is mysterious and by all indications he prefers it that way. What is known is that he is one of oldest of his kind, the Nephilim, one of the Firstborn. When the Nephilim went on their world destroying crusade under Absalom, it was he,as the closest thing they had to a crafter, that suggested the creation of the lesser and Grand Abominations from the bodies of the Ravaiim, the race that inhabited one of the first worlds the Nephilim attacked. This was, indeed, the very reason they targeted the Ravaiim's world. These were terrible weapons made of metal meshed with sinew, organs, and flesh, far more powerful than the Nephilim's other efforts, such as the sword Affliction and Death's own scythe, Harvester. They were eventually sealed away by the Firstborn Nephilim in the Abomination Vault, though not before many were lost or destroyed on battlefields like Kothysos and Eden. With the rest of the Firstborn dead after the battle at Eden, only Death knew the location of the vault. He led the other three surviving Nephilim, War, Fury, and Strife, away from the rest of their kind, defecting to serve the Charred Council at some point before that final battle. Before they could fully take up their mantles as the Four Horseman, the four surviving Nephilim were sent to the mysterious being known only as The Horsemaster. The Horsemaster demanded that they discard their weapons as the ancient beasts they sought to tame would bow only to their will. War proposed a wager as to who would tame their horse first. Fury and Strife proceeded to needle War about his tendency to boast, but The Horsemaster criticized them for bickering like children. Death, silent during the exchange, charged into the stampeding horses without a backward glance. He soon grabbed ahold of one horse and mounted it. The Nephilim gained control of it and directed it back to The Horsemaster and his siblings, where he named it Despair as its appearance changed to bone and pale dead flesh to reflect its master. Later, when War had gone on a rampage and slaughtered the army sent after him. Death led the other three Horseman to retrieve him. War refused to come quietly and attacked the other three. He managed to subdue Fury but Death interposed himself between War and their sister, taking the blow meant for her without flinching. Fury was then able to trap War's arm with her whip and Death severed it, intending to teach War a lesson. 'The Abomination Vault' A millenia before the events of Darksiders, Death took a leave of absence that lasted several centuries. After he returned, he built a home for himself on a dead world that consisted entirely of a nigh endless expanse of dust and ash. His reclusive lifestyle was shortlived, however, as the Council sent Panoptos with a mission almost immediately after his ghouls finished construction. After an unpleasant exchange in which Death expressed his utter disdain for the Watcher, Panoptos revealed that there had been a skirmish between a garrison of angels and an unknown enemy at the borders of Eden. The name Eden capturing his full attention, Death departed for Eden immediately. Upon arriving, Death found the battlefield curiously lacking in overt signs of carnage such as corpses and rubble. He eventually found the body of one angel, so hopelessly tangled deep in the brush that his comrades had been unable to find him. Using necromancy, he was able to summon the spirit of the deceased angel to describe the battle. Through his method, he was able to discover that the angel garrison as attacked by an army of Maker constructs that nearly overwhelmed them through sheer numbers before they recieved reinforcements from Abaddon himself. Death's interveiw was cut short when a small group of angels attacked him, angered by his desecration of their fellow's corpse. Death defeated them handily, and in doing so realized why he had been unable to detect them earlier and why the site was barren of battle signs. At his call, the angel that had cast the powerful illusion, Azrael, allowed it to fade. After discussing the angels' purpose at Eden, being the protection of Eden where the Council had not bothered, Azrael brought Death to the small fortress that was the angels' camp to speak with Abaddon. The three grudgingly discussed the terms of an alliance to uncover the perpetrators of the attack. When Death discovered that Abaddon had lost his eye to a long thought lost Nephilim sword named Affliction, he immediately became worried as to what other ancient weapons they might have liberated from the dead worlds, the old battlefields of the Nephilim. The eldest Horseman refused to elaborate on his fears to the angels and departed at once. It was to Kothysos, the site of the fiercest battle the Nephilim had fought before Eden and the world where the Nephelim had lost Affliction, that Death journeyed to next. He found that a massive force of Maker constructs were excavating the ancient battlefield, scavenging what they could of Nephilim weapons. By the light guard and small prizes the constructs uncovered, Death surmised that whoever had made the constructs had already found what they were looking for and were merely wrapping up their operation. After dispatching a number of constructs and upon examining the pile of scavenged materials, he discovered fragments of handles, grips, and other material crafted from leathery flesh, confirming his fears that the constructs had discovered a lost Abomination. Shortly after this discovery, Death's companion, Dust, fell into a fit and through him the Horseman recieved a vision of the Crowfather's domain under attack by yet another construct army. Death went to the Crowfather's frigid domain and made his way to the Crowfather himself, using subtlety to sneak and ambush his way across the battlefield where constructs did battle with flocks of crows so large they blotted out the sky and the elements of the realm itself, gusts of blizzard and even bolts of lightning, as the Crowfather marshalled the power of his own domain. When he found the Crowfather, the pair combined their abilities to drive the last of the constructs from the icy plains. After arguing about the Crowfather's lingering connection to Dust, they worked out a way get the knowledge they wanted from a dead construct. The Crowfather placed the soul of one of his dying crows within the construct, mingling it with the memories of the construct itself. Death then used his necromantic powers to consult the spirit, discovering that the Maker that had built the construct army was named Belisatra and his worst fears were confirmed: someone was looking for a way to awaken the Grand Abominations. Death then returned to the Charred Council to give his report and warn them of the danger posed by the Abomination Vault with the other three Horseman present. He told the Council and the other Horsemen about the Abominations and the Abomination Vault, though he refused to reveal its location regardless of the Council's threats. Death managed to convince the Council that his usefulness in this matter outwayed his insolence and they agreed to send the Horsemen to investigate. However, the eldest Horsemen ordered War, Fury, and Strife to stay behind. Despite their protests, they eventually agreed to abide by his wishes. Before leaving the Council's domain, Death paid a visit to the Keeper of Oblivion, the being that holds power over the portal to the realm of nonexistence known as Oblivion and a fellow servant of the Charred Council. As a friend, Death expressed his discomfort with the feelings of guilt that the resurfacing of the Abominations had brought on. He then told the Keeper most of his history concerning the abominations, not because he was seeking council, but because he wished to unburden himself of at least some of his guilty secrets to someone that might understand. During the conversation, the Crowfather contacted Death with a memory from one of his crows concerning the construct invasion of his realm. It revealed that the invasion had been led by an unknown angel. The Horseman then set his next destination as the Library of the Argent Spire in the White City, searching for records of the Maker Belisatra. Death recieved a frosty reception from the angels in the White City, owing to a massacre War had recently perpetrated there while eliminating an angelic weapon of mass desruction on the Charred Council's orders. The Horseman was, however, able to convince the guards to let him through. On his approach to the Argent Spire, Death was approached by an angel calling himself Semyaza, who claimed to be his escort. Soon after, Semyaza ambushed Death and pushed him off the bridge they were standing on, plummeting several layers deeper into the city. As he recovered from the impact, Semyaza impaled the Horseman with Affliction. Before Semyaza could continue his attack, War appeared and attacked the angel from above. Unwilling to fight two of the Horsemen simultaneously, Semyaza fled the field of battle. Death and War argued vehemently over the latter's disobedience to the former's orders but they were cut short by the arrival of Abaddon and his forces. After a standoff and reminding the angels of the pacts and treaties that bound them, the pair was able to continue to the Argent Spire. At the Argent Spire, they consulted Azrael for information on Belisatra and her angelic ally. They determined that Semyaza was most likely an alias as the real Semyaza was stationed at an angel outpost far from the White City. As Death gave Azrael a curtailed account of the Abominations, ommitting any mention of the Ravaiim or the precise nature of the Grand Abominations. In the meantime, Azrael's subordinates had gathered information regarding Belisatra. They discovered that she was once an apprentice to an ancient and powerful Maker named Gulbannan that was murdered some ages ago. Furthermore, Gulbannan had been a lover of Lilith. Their next destination was the home of Lilith herself in Hell. Leaving War at the door, Death confronted Lilith alone. She alluded to some past relationship between the two, but he refused to acknowledge it. Lilith evaded his questions about Belisatra, but he threatened her with the Charred Council's retaliation should she not aid them in stopping the Maker's effort's to awaken the Abominations. She admitted that it had been Belisatra that murdered Gulbannan when he was going to reveal what he had taught Lilith to the other Makers out of guilt and that Belisatra had become Lilith's servant soon after. However, the Maker recently left Lilith's service after the visit of an angel named Hadrimon. Realizing that Hadrimon was the angel that had attacked him and led the assault on the Crowfather's realm, the Horsemen departed for Lilith's old laboratory in Gulbannan's former domain. After breaking their way into the laboratory, Death and War found Hadrimon and Belisatra. They immediately struck, but the battle had hardly begun when a small army of demons attacked both sides. The Nephilim defeated the demons handily, but the rogue angel and Maker escaped amidst the confusion. Confused by the demon presence, Death was still able to surmise that the workshop had contained a large Grand Abomination before the conspirators had absconded with it. He also aquired the Abomination Mortis, still powerful though nearly dead. He underestimated it and left his own mind vulnerable to it when he put it on, accidently revealing the secret of the Grand Abomination's activation to Hadrimon through the mental link between Abominations. Furious at his failure, Death led War to the Ravaiim homeworld where he knew Hadrimon and Belisatra would go to retrieve the key necesary to awaken the power of the Grand Abominations: Ravaiim blood. Frustrated by his brother's opacity, War cajoled Death into revealing the reason for his guilt, his complicity in the creation of the Abominations. Before they got far, both Nephilim were shocked by the appearance of a small army of angels under the command of Azrael. Death, having sent Dust to the Charred Council, was expecting Fury and Strife, but the Council had chosen to hold them in reserve and sent Dust on the White City to request assistence. Upon hearing Hadrimon's name, Azrael explained the rogue angel's past and his reasons for hating both Heaven and Hell. The angels and the Horsemen searched the plains of the Ravaiim world until they came across Belisatra's construct army. They were able to deal with the constructs easily despite being outnumbered eight to one, but once again, as in Lilith's old laboratory, a demonic horde attacked. Between the battle prowess of the Horsemen, the angels, and Azrael's magics, the demons' stood little chance of victory. In the heat of battle, Death glimpsed the profane form of a Lost Angel lurking as a commander in the rear of the demonic forces. Just as the battle seemed to be winding down, another army of constructs joined the battle. This time they were joined by Hadrimon, who wielded the Abomination Black Mercy, a pistol that killed each of its targets no matter how minor the injury inflicted. That was revealed to be the least of their worries as Belisatra appeared with the massive Grand Abomination known as Earth Reaver, a weapon capable of causing a full scale volcanic eruption. Many demons, constructs, and a good number of angels fell to the first shot. In light of such power, Death convinced Azrael and War to retreat. After setting up his brother and the angels in a defensive position, the eldest Nephilim used ammunition from the angels' Redemption cannons as explosives to destroy Earth Reaver's footing, temporarily disabling it for a number of hours. Death regrouped with War and Azrael shortly, hatching a plan to deprive Hadrimon and Belisatra of Ravaiim blood. He concocted a necromantic spell to draw all the Ravaiim blood into the cavern they had made their camp in, a feat made possible by the pooling of Azrael's mystical energies with his own. He condensed the blood and placed it in a cylinder, also creating several duplicate decoy cylinders. He told Azrael and War that he would stay with a decoy cylinder while Azrael would take most of his angels with a second decoy. War would carry actualy Ravaiim blood in an attempt to outmaneuver Hadrimon and Belisatra. After they had gone, Death carefully lowered his mental defenses and revealed the plan to Mortis, and thus to Hadrimon. Unbeknownst to Hadrimon, Mortis, Azrael, or War himself, Death had sent the younger Horseman with a decoy while he himself carried the true Ravaiim blood. In this way, he ensured that he would be able to depart with the Ravaiim blood unharrassed though all but guaranteeing his brother's demise. Death then took the time to interveiw the deceased spirit of a dead demon, discovering that their master was the Lost Angel Raciel, who was Hadrimon's lover before she was banished to Hell after he reported their illegal romance to Heaven's leaders. The elder Horseman then departed for the realm of the Charred Council. Rather than visiting the Council, Death went to the Keeper of Oblivion and persuaded him to cast the cylinder of Ravaiim blood through the portal into Oblivion, thus ensuring that nobody would ever be able to use it to awaken the Abominations ever again. Despite Panoptos' attempts to stop him, the Horseman immediately departed to the Ravaiim homeworld once more in the hopes of saveing his brother. He spent days with Dust and Despair scouring the plains for War. When Death found him, the younger Horseman was already dead. However, Death stabbed himself with War's soul bound sword, Chaoseater, allowing it to feed off the violence and pain of the act, and used the spark of War's life lingering in the blade combined with his own necromantic powers to revive his brother. Death was consumed by guilt at his actions that led to War's death and his own inability to tell his brother the truth afterwards. He took some solace in his certainty that the threat of the Abomination Vault was resolved. Unfortunately that solace was premature. Upon their return to the realm of the Charred Council, Death and War learned that Belisatra's constructs and Hadrimon had attacked an angelic outpost using an inexpicably still awakened Black Mercy. The eldest Horseman surmised that the attack was a test for their new method of obtaining Ravaiim blood, seeing Earth Reaver's absence as a sign that they had cannabalized the Grand Abomination to get the blood they needed to fuel the smaller one. He kept this fact to himself until after the meeting. The Council, having grown frustrated by Death's repeated disobedience, tortured him with pain extreme enough to paralyze even him. Death told them that they needed him, but the Charred Council only told him that they had no need for servants that were unwilling to obey. Fortunately, War stepped in and told the Council that they would need to kill him too though Death's guilt was deepened by his brother's faith in him. The Charred Council relented given Death's personal history with the Abominations, but warned him that they could strip his power away should he disobey them again. He and War were assigned the duty of standing guard over the Abomination Vault itself while Fury and Strife would hunt down Hadrimon and Belesatra. The eldest Horseman sent Dust to the Crowfather to send a message to Azrael with a request to trick Raciel's forces into attacking the Abomination Vault soon after departing the Charred Council's realm. Death then led War to the world of ashes upon which he had made his home, revealing that it was the last world the Nephelim had destroyed prior to their defeat at Eden and the location of the Abomination Vault's entrance. It was not long before Belisatra's constructs attacked, first fighting the ghouls and necromantic wards Death had placed around his home, then the Horsemen themselves. Their easy fight was complicated by the arrival of Hadrimon and Black Mercy, then Belisatra herself with a massive cannon she had constructed. It was then that the demons led by Raciel intervened in the battle and devestated the remainder of the construct army. Death then confronted Hadrimon over the seal of the Abomination Vault. He shattered the ward protecting the vault in the hopes that the psychic presences of the Abominations within would overwhelm Hadrimon long enough for him to deal the final blow. Instead, Black Mercy took control of Hadrimon and fired at Death, a shot he blocked with Harvester but nonetheless drained his energies and left him too weak to move. Just then, a wounded Raciel entered the chamber. Black Mercy once again took control and killed her, leading the angel to try and use the Abomination to kill himself, but it refused to slay its wielder. Azrael then appeared, projecting an illusion of Raciel before she became a demonic Lost Angel. The distraction allowed Death the tme he needed to recover and slay the mad angel. Death and Azrael then exited the building to confront Belisatra, who had been fighting War. Upon seeing Black Mercy in Death's hand, she surrendered and Death's ghouls resrained her to be brought to the Charred Council. Azrael and Death expressed their distaste at the deceitful way they had achieved victory, but Death told them they were being foolish and that it only mattered that they had won at all. Azrael told Death he was grateful they could stop the Abominations, but wait a long while before ever calling upon the White City for aid again. War asked his brother what he meant to do with the Abominations, to which Death responded that he would return Black Mercy to the Abomination Vault, though he might keep Mortis seeing as it was nearly dead, posed little threat, and could be useful. They then set about resecuring Death's home and the Vault, War, laughing, refused to help clean up the corpse laden battlefield. On his return to the Charred Council's domain, Death encountered Panoptos advancing his suggestion to the Council that each Horsemen be assigned a Watcher to keep them loyal. Catching him alone, Death suggested that it was Panoptos that had hired Raciel's demonic mercenaries, that he had grown unsatisfied with being the Council's slave, sought to use the Watchers based off of him as soldiers and the power of the Grand Abominations to free himself from the Council. The Horseman acknowledged that he had no real proof and but promised to be waiting when Panoptos made a mistake. He left the Watcher to his uncertainty, and went to give his report to the Council. 'Death's Door' At one point in time, Abaddon asked Death to destroy a rogue demon that had made its way to Earth. As such an invasion signified a disruption of the Balance, Death agreed. As his scythe, Harvester, required the permission of the Council to act and this excursion was not sanctioned by the Council, the Horseman made his way to the demon merchant Vulgrim in search of an alternative weapon. Vulgrim demanded an exotic fee for such an unusual request, the tongue of the Leviathan. Death traveled to the River Styx, a river containing wrathful souls lost between the Three Kingdoms and the Well of Souls, where the Leviathan resided. He plunged his arm into the river to allow the creature to get his scent, heedless of the hate filled souls grasping at him. When the creature arose, he did battle with it and it soon attempted to swallow him. Instead, Death beheaded the creature from within and brought it crashing through the roof of Vulgrim's store, demanding his weapon as he pried open it's mouth. Death then went in search of a being known as The Horsemaster, the very being that had helped the Four Horseman gain their steeds. After bantering about Death's current mission and The Horsemaster's recollection of Death being the rash Horseman when the four had come to him so long ago, he agreed to provide Death with a Serpent Hole to travel to Earth. As he did so, he left Death with a parting warning: that should the Charred Council discover this illegal action it might be the Earth that suffers. 'Darksiders II' After the horseman War was sent back to Earth by The Charred Council to find the being responsible for starting the Apocalypse prematurely, The Council informed Death and the other two horsemen of War's fate. Upon hearing this news, Death angrily protested that War was the most honorable of the four Horsemen, and therefore could not have started the Apocalypse early. Later, unknown to The Charred Council, Death traveled to The Abyss, the underworld located between the Three Kingdoms on his own quest to prove his brother's innocence by resurrecting the human race. Personality Death is described as an arrogant, sarcastic, cold and calculating anti-hero who is resourceful and opportunistic. He has seen and done many things that can be called "Evil", ranging from genocide, destroying worlds and creating weapons of world-ending power. He doesn't wait for things to happen, rather, he causes them to happen. Death is the leader of the Horsemen, so he is very level headed and mature. He is very harsh on the others, as he was not hesitant in cutting off War's left arm in order to teach him a lesson. Despite this, he cares deeply for his brothers and sister, as any older sibling would. He took a blow for Fury, brought War back to life after being killed and showed that he was willing to stand up to The Charred Council to prove his brother's innocence alone. As the Horseman of Death, he often appears somewhat morbid & ominous towards those who speak to him. He also possesses a dark sense of humor and sees killing as an art rather than a duty as War does. He is starting to feel guilt for some of his past actions such as the creation of the Grand Abominations. Trivia *A quote from the Bible describes Death in such words: *Death's crow is named Dust. He is commonly seen sitting on Death's shoulder, and will serve as Death's "clue giver" in Darksiders II, similar to The Watcher from the first Darksiders. *Death's appearance has been altered somewhat from the Darksiders comics to Darksiders II. While still without upper body armor, the lower robe seems to have been replaced with lower body armor adorned with skulls, keeping with his motif. His hair is completely black, and he now has a green crystal located on his right pectoral near the shoulder along with a scar/tattoo on that shoulder. Also, in the comics, Death had green eyes but in Darksiders II they are Red/Orange. *Death, in Darksiders II has two single handed scythes that can merge into one halberd-like weapon with different combos. For a time, these Twin Scythes were believed to be different from Death's iconic Harvester. However, this excerpt from the novel Darksiders: The Abomination Vault reveals otherwise. The Twin Scythes have been confirmed to be his primary weapons. *Another of Death's (secondary) weapons seen in the debut trailer is a large maul. *Death is one of the only two original horsemen from the actual book of Revelations that remain in the game, the other being his brother War. *Death can change his armor in Darksiders II. There are many examples of this in the trailer, at first he is wearing bandages on his hands, then he is wearing the skeletal gloves we see him with most often and then he is wearing some kind of gauntlet with a purple orb in the center. There are different sets of armor that Death wears in Darksiders II, some of them are The Wanderer, Slayer and Necromancer. *Death's Reaper Form resembles modern and traditional depictions of the Grim Reaper. Gallery Death_twin_scythe_spear.jpg|Death forming his dual scythe. Death-hires.jpg|A closer look. BugProblem.jpg|Death in Battle, having a bug problem. DarksidersII_Death.jpg|Death as seen in-game. DarksidersII_ghosthook.jpg|Ghost Hook DarksidersII_Leap.jpg DarksidersII_Ready_for_action.jpg Face to Face.jpg|Facing Scarab Hulk. DarksidersII_TGS1.jpg DarksidersII TGS2.jpg|Dual wielding. DarksidersII_TGS3.jpg Death_new_weapon.jpg|Resolving a problem with a new kind of weapon. DarksidersII_TGS5.jpg TheAscent.jpg|Death Prowling. Traversal.jpg DeathandDespair.jpg|Death summoning Despair. Abyss_boss_battle.jpg Death_maul.jpg|Death wielding a Maul. Death_HeavyHitter.jpg|Another shot of Death with War Hammer. darksiders-2-death-hammer.jpg|Just standin' with a maul... Death_reaper_form.png|Death's Reaper Form. darksiders262.jpg|Death in Darksiders II having an offer. DS2-Reveal-Trailer-GI.jpg|Death ridding Despair. Death_despair.jpg Death_deapair3.jpg Death_deapair2.jpg Bkg_preorder.jpg Bkg_teaser.jpg Darksiders009.jpg|Comic Strip of the Horsemen. Death colored.jpg|Death in the Comic. Ds horsemen2.jpg|Concept art of the horsemen. The_harvester.jpg|Death's scythe - The Harvester. Cover-full.jpg|July Game Informer cover. Death_concept_art.jpg|Concept Art. Cover-610.jpg Dust.jpg|Dust, Death's Raven|link=Dust DS2_Death_Face_Studies.jpg|Face Studies. The four horsemen by windlordofsuldor.jpg|Poster of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. ...and my axe!.jpg Fist weapons.jpg Faceoff with a Stalker.jpg Stalker faceoff.jpg with Dust.jpg Boss rush.jpg Darksiders_II_1.jpg Darksiders_II_2.jpg Darksiders_II_3.jpg adventurepack.jpg|Part of the pre-order bonus. ancientconstruct.jpg|Pre-order bonus. Angel_of_Death armor.jpg|Pre-order bonus armor/weapon set. angelofdeathpack.jpg|Pre-order bonus armor/weapons. deadlydispairpack.jpg|Part of the Pre-order bonus. DSII - KeyArt DeathOTS (FINAL).jpg DarksidersII MSFT TorturedGate.jpg|A Tortured Gate. DarksidersII MSFT MakerElder.jpg|The Maker Elder. DarksidersII MSFT Door.jpg|Karn, part of the DLC pack. DarksidersII MSFT Despair.jpg DarksidersII MSFT Death.jpg Iknowwherethisisgoing.png|Screenshot from Gamespot's Behind the Scenes video. 457852_10150735509305546_114852485545_11798554_918853917_o.jpg|Death's firearm 466638_10150735509410546_114852485545_11798555_1107190246_o.jpg|Death in the Maker's Realm 471878_10150735509475546_114852485545_11798556_1884665189_o.jpg 472131_10150735509200546_114852485545_11798553_1409342322_o.jpg|Death and Despair 478807_10150735509110546_114852485545_11798552_1209675009_o.jpg 478416_10150735509050546_114852485545_11798551_1873843042_o.jpg|Death utilizing 'Death Grip' 7148DarksidersII_Online_ReaperForm.jpg|Death's Reaper Form II 7143DarksidersII_Online_Despair.jpg|Death in the Cold Plains Marching.jpg deathvsnotwar.jpg|Death versus a being that almost has War's appearance References Category:Darksiders 2 Characters Category:The Four Horsemen Category:Abomination Vault Characters Category:Comic Book Characters